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Towards an enactive lexicology: From muscle salience tosignifying

Michaël Grégoire

To cite this version:Michaël Grégoire. Towards an enactive lexicology: From muscle salience to signifying. Signifiances(Signifying), Université Clermont Auvergne, 2017, 1, pp.67 - 88. �10.18145/signifiances.v1i3.135�.�halshs-01554123�

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88. DOI : https://doi.org/10.18145/signifiances.v1i3.135.

Towards an enactive lexicology : From muscle salience to

signifying

Michaël Grégoire1

Abstract

This paper lays some foundations for a method of enactive lexicology by applying the

postulates of enaction at the submorphological level following Bottineau (2008, 2010,

2012a, b). We use the theory of submorphemic saliencing (Grégoire, 2012a, 2014a,b;

2015), which postulates that only one of the signifier’s characteristics is exploited for a

given word according to synchronic events and utterances. The enaction of form and

meaning underpinned by this saliencing (salience + -ing) process therefore involves the

activation of one part and the inhibition of the rest of the morphology, analogously to

muscular and neural functions. It is also a perception-action phenomenon that is at once

simplex and vicarious according to the definitions of Berthoz (1997, 2009, 2013).

Keywords : theory of submorphemic salience ; lexicon ; enaction ; submorpheme ; 1st

and 2nd orders of languaging

Résumé

L’objectif de cet article est de poser les bases d’une méthode de lexicologie énactive en

appliquant les postulats de l’énaction au niveau submorphologique à la suite de

Bottineau (2008, 2010, 2012a,b). Nous utilisons pour cela la théorie de la saillance

submorphologique (Grégoire, 2012a, 2014a,b ; 2015) qui postule que seul un élément du

signifiant est exploité pour un même mot en fonction des synchronies et des énoncés.

L’énaction de la forme et du sens qui repose sur ce processus de mise en saillance

correspond donc à l’activation d’une partie et à l’inhibition du reste de la morphologie

rappelant ainsi les fonctionnements musculaire et neuronal. Il s’agit par ailleurs d’un

phénomène à la fois perçactif, simplexe et vicariant suivant les définitions de Berthoz

(1997, 2009, 2013).

Mots-clés : Théorie de la saillance submorphologique ; lexique ; énaction ;

submorphème ; Languaging de 1er et 2nd ordres.

1 Clermont Auvergne University, France. Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Langage (EA 999). E-mail :

michael.gregoire@uca.fr.

We thank Richard Ryan for language-editing the English version of this paper.

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

68

[S]cience cannot provide a true discursive

description of independent reality. [...]

It does not really reach reality as it is.

Bernard d'Espagnat (1990: 259). Our translation.

1. Languaging and perception-action2

1.1 Languaging conceived as voice perception-action

The cognitivistic approach to language conceives the world as pre-existent to our cognition,

and represented or encoded by language: information or stimuli from an outside world are

processed by the brain, and expressed by language. By contrast, the enactive approach to

language postulates that the world as we perceive it is neither pre-existent to our cognition nor

represented (or encoded) by language. Instead it considers cognition as a dynamic, embodied

process in which the world is constructed, and of which language partakes. Our interest in the

signifier and its embodiment places our linguistic research in this framework.

Importantly, any enactive approach, whether linked to language or not, owes much to the

perception-action [see Berthoz (1997)]. This principle draws on Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy

of corporeity and the conception of memory and perception according to Edelman (1987),

with neuronal Darwinism, and later according to Rosenfield (1989)3. It is the process by

which a living being constructs the surrounding world through the activation of its own bodily

mechanisms. For Berthoz (1997: 277), « perception is [...] inseparable from action; it is a

prediction of the future; it has been organized in the course of evolution according to the

natural properties of the physical world and biological mechanisms.” Bottineau (forthcoming

2) presents perception-action as a synthesis that includes two patterns of motor action: the

perceptual engagement of the senses themselves (oculomotricity, activation of sensory or

biomarkers sensors, etc.) and the manipulation of objects synthesized by the senses, paths in

space, and possible interactions in general. Perceiving takes its place a priori in the perceived

world by perception-action motricity and its memorized correlates (or recorded actions), a

world specific to our species, and fitted to its scope of action. For Bottineau, languaging, as a

technique of vocal action, plays a fundamental role:

To speak, to produce voice signals, is to modify by his action the conditions of

perceivability of the surrounding world in the context of an interaction (exophasia),

or to imagine this modification to simulate its effects (endophasia). Thus defined,

speech is presented as a particular modality of perc-action [= perception-action] : it

consists of an interactive coordination of subjective interventions in a collective

environment (interactions, dialogue, conversations, exchanges, production and

distribution of writings) which makes it possible to act intentionally on the

synthesis of the [perceived world] by an ethical, behavioural, social, normative and

regulated system. (Bottineau, 2012a : 78. Our italics).

Although the perceptual synthesis of space and objects is imposed by common behavioral

models dictated by social life, it is also partly enacted by verbal interactions (notably through

family education and schooling). Bottineau presents the word as « a dialogic reactivator [that]

2 We use the word languaging to translate the French Saussurian term parole, or an « interactive cognitive

technique formatted by routinary procedures and social norms » (Bottineau 2013 : 216) and not as a consensual

domain of coordinated interactions like Maturana (1978). 3 For Rosenfield (1989), memory is not localized in the brain but is a dynamic process that produces

categorizations. It is part of a synthesis of sensory, affective and corporeal experience. Memory thus creates an

impression of traces refreshed in the subject’s current context.

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

69

recalls memories stemming from interactive practices.” Bottineau (2012b : np). This is

socially inherited behavior, and

likely to trigger intentionally (endophasia) as well as for others (exophasia), a

paradigm of knowledge corresponding to the synthesis of the history of situations

of verbal interactions where this lexical unity was previously encountered when

relating to others and self (through endophasia). (Bottineau, 2012b : np. Our

translation).

The word is thus seen as a process, a behavior among others, whose purpose is to refer to an

experience of the world acquired socially, and not as an object of memorized language.

Bottineau illustrates this with the word sandwich:

As a signifier, or active sensorimotor loop, the word sandwich calls up the set of

knowledge recorded on the occasion of earlier encounters of this same signifier

(exactly like the smell of tea recalls multimodal sensitive impressions linked to

previous situations where the same tea, the same “madeleines” were consumed).

(Bottineau, 2012b : np. Our translation).

By its social acquisition and its dialogical function, the word thus helps to construct a vision

of the world specific to a linguistic community, just as human perception-action helps to build

a world characteristic of our species. But this definition of the word raises the question of its

mode of acquisition and its repercussions in enactive sense-making, in short, of its ontological

status: the phenomena of coalescence, composition, elision and other truncations, for

example, in our languages, or the absence of segmentation in those with an oral tradition,

question the importance to be attached to the word itself.

1.2 From signs to sub-signs

The question of the status of signs and words has been dealt with in particular by

Kravchenko (2007), who regards words as metalinguistic, second-order elements:

the signifying function of linguistic signs does not arise from their direct relation to

the external world, it arises from human experience as the basis of knowledge;

therefore, it cannot be arbitrary in the accepted sense of the word. The essential

non-arbitrariness of signs is sustained by Peirce's semiotics, particularly, by his

concept of indexical signs. (Kravchenko, 2007 : 251. The author’s italics).

Kravchenko arrives at the conclusion that « language is a system constituted by signs of

signs » (cf. Peirce's « a sign for a sign » principle) »4. This resonates with the words of

Cowley (2009), who underlines the standardized, acquired character of words:

Far from being material, words are virtual entities that, in themselves, lack causal

powers. Human activity is directed at linking experience, material events and

culture. Like sport, music, dance, and computer-mediated activity, language (and

words) realize values only within a body (as feeling) or with reference to

utterances, thoughts, and actions. (Cowley, 2009 : 496).

The author adds that

Language skills emerge as experience of coordination teaches us to hear second-

order constructs (‘words’). Given linguistic reflexivity (the fact that we can talk

about talk), we later report what we hear. Unlike machines that process ungrounded

symbols, we act as we language. The feeling of thinking emerges in coordinating

with living beings. While grounded in bodies, language evokes historically derived

4 Kravchenko (2007 : 669).

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

70

patterns. By vocalizing (and moving), we use cultural resources. Phylogenetically,

ontogenetically, and neurally, language is dynamic first, symbolic second. Cowley,

2009 : 499. The author’s italics).

Schooling and family education is thus fully involved in the use and design of language by the

speaking subjects. The fact of knowing the existence of autonomous, syntactically adapted

forms to recall a set of recorded experiences modifies how the language itself functions.

Words are first of all dialogically recognizable signifying processes that emerge on the vocal

continuum formed by a speech chain, and are only later considered as units segmented by the

child. But one of the cognitive gains of this acquired segmentation is that it makes it possible

to stabilize meaning, semiotize it, and thus re-enlist the signifying processes for a new

instruction if need be. In short, Peirce’s « a sign for a sign » scheme proves economical and

effective for the use of language, especially the lexicon.

However, this secondary characteristic of the acquired segmented word raises in turn the

question, in the framework of an enactive lexicology (or an enactive linguistics), of the

enactment of other types of signifying processes in the vocal continuum. Could there be

meaningful processes not acquired by education or reanalysis performed by adults during

verbal interactions? We seek an answer to this question in the enaction of meaning at another

level, where instruction has not played a conscious role in metalinguistic construction, namely

the submorphemic level. It is perhaps in involuntary or untimely creations that we can more

easily detect new constructions that deviate from the acquired norm. The slip, for example,

does not always involve words or signs, but rather fragments that make sense in specific

interactive discursive situations. For example, the word hynoptize

(https://soundcloud.com/hynoptize) is a cross between hypnotize and optical, the etymology

of hypnotize (from the Greek hypnosis "dream") having been forgotten. The link to vision

then operated. However, this analogical reconstruction was based on a non-morphemic part

opt. We thus set out to focus on this sub-morphemic domain, which is still uncharted from the

perspective of an enactive lexicology.

1.2 The submorpheme, a “phenomenological mediator”5

1.3.1 Definitions from an enactive perspective

Several specialists in different languages have proposed approaches to the lexicon that do not

study words or morphemes-signs, but rather the elements located at a submorphemic level,

called submorphemes: Firth (1930), Tournier (1985), Bottineau (2008, 2010, 2012b,

forthcoming 1 and 2), Philps (2002, 2010), Bohas-Dat (2007), Bohas (2016), and Grégoire

(2012a). As early as the 17th century, this type of marker had been intuitively placed at the

origin of words, to be later recorded and linked to a meaning (see Wallis 1653). The

submorpheme can be defined as a procedure for the construction of phenomenological

experience by recourse to a succession of sensorimotor actions6 recognizable dialogically as

word or morpheme but never autonomous syntactically. In their realization in words, the

submorphemes are hierarchized spatiotemporally, while always standing upstream of the

morphematic level. For example, Bottineau (2012b: np) on the English submorpheme sp:

Sp- (fricative apicoalveolar continuous wheeze + bilabial plosive) instructs the

interpreter to conceptualize the object / event / action in the context of the

5 Bottineau (2012b : np). 6 We emphasize the corporeal aspect and not only the vocal character of these actions insofar as verbal language,

like access to cognition, also mobilizes other parts of the body (see for example Alott 1973, Giudicceli et al.

2001, Philps 2010).

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

71

experienciation of a centrifugal rotational motion associated with a centripetal

force ejection (spin, spear, spill, speak) [...] characterized by the notion of integral

and recurrent rotation, in a loop.

Bottineau points out that diachronically, « the examples are extremely numerous and the

dictionaries do not suffer any exceptions for this matrix, in spite of the heterogeneity of the

concerned etymological sources » (ibid.), which supports the hypothesis of the existence of

this submorpheme as such. The submorpheme thus has an identifiable phenomenological

function based on environment and multimodality. Bottineau explains more precisely that

These markers are dedicated to the selection and prediction or anticipation of a

sensorimotor experienceal class by which an animate subject, an inanimate object

or a process / action manifests itself typically in the experience of the observer, the

experiencer or the manipulator, for example the fact that a sponge projects water

when twisted (sponge, provided with the same submorpheme spill, spit, spout,

spray, sprinkle); These markers specify, for the community that practices the

language, a predictable, typical sensorimotor experienciation class for the object,

the event or the action considered by the notion.7

It is this typically salient aspect of the sensorimotor experience with the object or the action

that constitutes the notion (Philps, 2002, 2010), also called concept (Grégoire, 2012a, 2014a),

to which is attached the submorpheme in question. The concept is thus constructed according

to the relation that an experimenter is likely to have with the object. It is even through this

same prism that the object is perceived and conceived. In this case, speak is conceived by an

anglophone as a centrifuging and ejection activity.

1.3.2 Methodology for semantic recognition and attestation of submorphemes

It should be pointed out, however, that the submorpheme, though embodied and linked to

sensorimotor experience, is not systematically linked to any given concept: not all words

containing the same submorpheme are necessarily attached to the same sensorimotor

experimental class. The submorpheme does not systematically operate as a marker. Philps

(2002) thus established a methodology for distinguishing words containing submorphemes

linked to a concept from those not involved. To this end, he combined two approaches,

synchronic (verification of meaning in discourse) and diachronic (verification of etymology).

It was thus discovered that many English words containing the submorpheme sn- in the initial

position were linked to the domain of « bucco-nasality », and were etymologically derived

from the Indo-European root *(s)n, with mobile s. This allowed the author to oust certain

words that did not meet this criterion, such as snail, snake, snug or snack.

It is therefore at the same time the body dimension (articulatory process combining a fricative

and a labial plosive), the experimental dimension, the transmitted experiential dimension

(dialogical relation), the sufficient recognition in the corpus8 and the diachronic path that

prove decisive in the recognition and validating of submorphemes.9

These submorphemes emerge according to at least three mechanisms established by Bottineau

(2012b: np): « analogical rehabilitation », « analogical remotivation » and the systemizing of

the submorphemes ». In the first mechanism some consonant groups with the same form but

7 Bottineau (ibid.) Our translation and italics. 8 For statistical studies, see Drellishak (2007). 9 The psycholinguistic existence of submorphemes, especially in English, was demonstrated by Bergen (2004):

in this experiment, the submorphemes displayed priming effects like those reported for compositional

morphemes.

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

72

not initially included in the same submorphological structure are recruited diachronically. For

example, spend from the Latin EXPENDERE penetrated the class of words in sp- essentially

of Germanic origin (e.g. speak, sprechen). Analogical remotivation is the activation of the

conceptual value by homophony with a collocated lexicon unit: e.g. scarce and scant, to stay

still, to come to a standstill, writhing wrath, sprightly spirit, glittering glory. Lastly the

systemization of submorphemes manifests the intercorrelation of submorphemes according to

analogical and opposing criteria. This is – writes Bottineau – especially the case for the

opposition sp (rotation) / sw (slow pendulum) / tw- (rapid oscillation). The rotation of sw is,

according to Bottineau, conceivable iconically as an attenuation of sp rotation, proportional to

the loss of the occlusive, while we find the oscillation and its rapidity with tw, which contains

an occlusive.

Thus unlike words or signs, submorphemes bear a more direct relation to sensorimotor, social

and ecological experience, while also having a dialogical dimension. They also reveal the

linguistic roots of intersubjectively distributed cognition, because the submorpheme accounts

for the dynamic relation to the world, by simulation of the body's involvement in building it.

For Bottineau (forthcoming 2), the lexicon therefore relies on perception-action by inscribing

in its submorphemic forms a selective, effective motor simulation. This perception-action is

selective, that is, conventionalized by use and common to all speakers. It also serves to

anticipate a sensorimotor property of the object and facilitate access to the stabilized concept.

Lastly it classifies the lexicon according to a limited repertoire of structuring kinetic models.

But the « choice » of motor simulation by the submorphemes remains unordered. For

example, the submorpheme skr present in the Spanish verb escribir (« to write ») or in the

German schreiben (idem) is opposed to the wr of the English write; they mark two distinct

ways of conceiving the writing act: a friction applied to a surface by an agent for skr, and the

(hand) torsional motion for wr10. Hence the use and even the existence of submorphemes

depend on a language’s cognitive options and the salient aspects of the relevant sensorimotor

world experiences, which can vary widely among different languages.11

This whole dynamic process of meaning adventing leads us to envisage, after Launay (1986),

a signifying that we can define as those potentialities inscribed in the continuum of

sensorimotor actions for the enacting or adventing of acts of thought, adjusted and oriented by

experience, intersubjective relations, the environment and the acquired norm.12 The question

therefore arises of how this signifying operates, in particular through submorphemes.

10 The author draws on the frequency of use of these submorphemes consistent with the dialogic relation

established. He connects the submorpheme sk to the class of "Surface (two-dimensional object, and / or

movement applied to it" (e.g. skin, skull, skate, skid, skittle, scamper, scab, mask, cask). The intermediary r

would then correspond to an agentive implication as we perceive it in scrooge, scour, screech, scratch, scrawl,

scribble, scrofula, scrub. As for wr, it is related to the movement of "torsion", as illustrated in the terms wrought,

wrath, writhe, wrist. (See Bottineau, 2008 : §14). For an application to other Germanic, Slavic or Romanic

languages, see Bottineau (2012: § 29). 11 For this, Bottineau replaces the arbitrariness of the sign by the contingency of the motivations of the

submorpheme (on two different levels). 12 For Launay (1986: 37), « the signifier can be the object of a reading, an analysis that integrates, by

associations, in a network where each term is taken with others in relations of resemblances and differences:

someone recognizes the paronymic pressure and its opposite: the differentiating pressure. But the world of

referents is itself caught up in another network of resemblances and differences, identity and diversity.

Signifying, as I understand it, would be the result of the analogical linking of both networks of resemblances and

differences: this connexion is what will confer on the signifier its value ». The author’s italics. Our translation.

The conception of language according to Launay may thus appear as « pre-enactive » in certain aspects.

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

73

2. Theory of Submorphemic Saliencing (TSS)

2.1 Fundamentals of the theory

The behavior governed by languaging that causes a submorpheme to emerge among other

components of the articulatory and / or graphic continuum is still unknown, insofar as

submorphemics does not specifically address the selection of the submorpheme in a string of

discursive sensorimotor actions. Submorphemic saliencing, as we define it, is the process of

selection (by saliencing) of one of these sensorimotor actions dialogically instituted on the

basis of verbal interactions, and identified analogically by comparison with other words

recorded as signifying processes. This principle is based on perception-action insofar as it

allows the corporeal engagement of “thought acts” (see Bottineau), and thus transmits a

phenomenological viewpoint. In short, it is construed as a procedure for the emergence of

form and meaning. Thus with this term saliencing (salience + -ing), we emphasize the

submorpheme enaction process and not the submorphemic unit.

Let us take another example. For Bottineau (2010: 15), the submorpheme st {coronal wheeze

+ occlusive coronal} is linked to the concept of « perceptual stand (space / time) », which

embraces many English words such as still, stall, stand, stay, stare, start , stop, step, stab,

rest, mast, among others. In the framework of our theory, the submorpheme {coronal wheeze

+ occlusive coronal} appears as salient, as a result of a saliencing in the sentences where these

words are used directly or indirectly with this concept of « perceptual stand (space / time) ».

This explains, among other things, why unifying power and a conceptual link form the

embodied character of the submorpheme: the coronal wheeze forms a continuity of the air

flow, abruptly stopped by the occlusive at a stage very close to the initiation of friction. This

makes this process suitable for expressing the idea of “stabilization”, or metaphorically a

« stand ». This prominent element is then considered as the focal point of the (dis)

nomination, in contrast to the rest of the morphology seen as less relevant. The saliencing

therefore implies a simplex mechanism (Berthoz, 2009)13, which requires that only some

sensorimotor actions be chosen from the complex array of co-articulated and / or graphic

phonoarticulatory characteristics implemented on different levels: (micro-)articulatory

movements14, phonemes or phonological components, graphs / graphics, internal syntax,

reduplication, syllabic structures, suprasegmental data, and formed by non-exclusive organs

and muscles (mouth, nose, pharynx, tongue, muscles, and hands and eyes for writing). Our

conception of submorphemes therefore applies not only to mono-, bi- or triconsonantic

elements, but to any entity located upstream of the morphological level, that is to say not yet

semiotized.

A salienced submorpheme is realized in a word in a constitutive form of a semiotized

morpheme compatible with the systemic constraints and the oppositions / analogies (here st,

s-d, s-t or s-t). We note that this phenomenon of enaction by saliencing is not systematic,

13 See Berthoz (2009 : 259) : “Simplexity, as I understand it, is the set of solutions found by living organisms so

that, despite the complexity of natural processes, the brain can prepare the act and project its consequences.

These solutions are simplifying principles that make it possible to deal with information or situations, taking into

account past experience and anticipating the future. These are not caricatures, shortcuts or summaries. These are

new ways of posing problems, sometimes at the cost of a few detours, to achieve faster, more elegant, more

effective actions.” Our translation. 14 See, for example, Mc Farland (2009), which traces all the muscular movements giving rise to a sound.

According to our theory, each (micro) movement is then amenable to exploitation at one level or another to

bodily envelop the meaning.

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

74

insofar as other processes may be at work, and are likely to be engaged in real time in speech

by the speaker.15

2 Illustration. Spanish verbs sitiar and cercar: two different constructions of the

idea of « besieging »

We have seen elsewhere (Grégoire, 2012a: 321-353) that semantic differences between the

Spanish verbs sitiar and cercar, though they both express the idea of « siege », arose because

they were not constructed with the same salienced submorpheme, and therefore not based on

the same aspects of the sensorimotor experience. The verb sitiar preferentially reflects the

idea of « blocking stabilization », in line with the submorpheme given above: {coronal

wheeze + coronal occlusive} realized s-t. The expression of this phenomenological point of

view can be found in Spanish in the words asta (« stick or pike »); balaústre (« baluster »);

construir / destruir (« to construct » / « to destroy »); estar (« to be »); estricto (« strict »);

estoico (« stoic »); obstáculo (« obstacle ») ; sestar (« to sit », « set »); sostener (« to

support ») poste (« post »), and as an analytical production: (a)sentar (« sit »), situar (« to

place »); seto (« hedge ») or sujetar (« support »). This viewpoint can be found in the

following example:

(1) los Ingleses salida á la provincia Bulacan, asistieron los pampangos á sitear ó bloquear

los enemigos, que se habían apoderado de la iglesia y del convento [...]16

(When the British left for the province of Bulacan, the Pampangos helped to besiege and

block their enemies, who had taken over the church and the monastery [...].)

We also find occurrences of sitiar in the sense of « static seat » where this viewpoint is

strengthened such as:

(2) Terminó su carrera con unas estadísticas que le aseguraban su sitiar en el Salón de la

Fama: trescientos setenta y nueve jonrones, dos mil trescientos cincuenta y un imparables y

un promedio de 297 a lo largo de su carrera en Grandes Ligas.17

(He ended his career with statistics that ensured him a place in the Hall of Fame: three

hundred and sixty-nine circuits, two thousand three hundred and fifty-one successes and an

average of 297 during his career in the top leagues.)

The verb cercar, on the other hand, expresses the sense of « besieging » from another

viewpoint, that of « tightening ». This may be related here to the visual, oculo-graphic

experience, a gesture of tightening (potentially hands) materializing a circle. The trace of this

visualization may have been kept in the graphic c-c, which depicts it.18 Cercar is one of a

large analogous set of words related to the concept of « tightening » (or its result,

« roundness ») and containing this graphic matrix, such as cercenar (« to trim, to round »);

cácabo (« saucepan », « kettle »); cacahuacintle (« maize variety with very round grains »);

Cacahuete (« peanut »); cacastle (« wicker basket »); cacimba (« small well »); cancho (« big

15 See, for example, the principle of chronosignifying according to Poirier (this issue and forthcoming), which we

mention later (4.1) or chronosemantics and chronophonetics according to Macchi (2017 and forthcoming). 16 Martínez de Zúñiga (1893 : 143). 17 Rodríguez Julia (1997 : 42). 18 For a demonstration of the synchronization at the neural level of the actions of the hands and the buccal

sphere, see Gentilucci et al. (2001). For example, in children: “Premotor neurons involved in generating multiple

grasp signals to hands and mouth might be used to transfer motor patterns from hand to mouth. The hypothesis

of a common substrate used for hand gesture and speech production is supported by research showing that deaf

children, when learning American Sign Language, go through a “hand-babbling” stage, in which they manipulate

sublexical elements of signs, much like the babbling stage of hearing infants.” (Gentilucci et al., 2001 : 1698).

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

75

rock »); caracol (« shell of the snail »); cáscara (« shell »); casco (« helmet », « skull »);

cercha (« wooden hoop »); cica (« stock exchange »); cícera (« sort of chickpea »); ciclo

(« cycle »); cincha (« belt »); coconut (« coconut and coconut fruit »); coca (« small round

berry », « head », « sort of cake »); coccinela (« ladybug »); coclear (« spiral-shaped »); cuca

(« coin », « walnut or hazelnut », « tuber », « cockroach »); cuco (« small round basket »).19

To meet the requirements of this graphic submorphemic saliencing, the submorpheme should

be stable diachronically: words coming from a Latin group -CT- / kt / are excluded

(e.g. acción°< ACTIŌNIS, lección < LECTIŌNIS or cocción < COCTIŌNIS). In this case,

the c-c root has persisted in most of the above terms from at least the pre-Latin period. The

others appeared later, sometimes with uncertain etymologies, and may have been inserted in

this structure by analogical reconstruction. The verb cercar expresses the nuance of a

« dynamic tightening » explicitly:

(3) Hernán Cortés lograba por fin cercar e invadir Tenochtitlán, el centro de poder of

Moctezuma.20

(Hernan Cortes finally succeeded in besieging and invading Tenochtitlán, the center of

Moctezuma's power.)

It is this phenomenological viewpoint that allows cercar to express the meaning of « fence »,

which the verb sitiar cannot do.

(4) [...] Se ha cercar todo para hacer dentro un parque de caza, donde se puedan entretener los

Reyes cuando vinieren aquí.21

([...] We have to fence everything to make a hunting park where the royal couple can be

entertained when they come here.)

In short, sitiar implies a « take-over », or « attack through continuous blocking », whereas the

verb cercar, implies « surrounding », or « encircling », and may express the idea of

« encircling » without necessarily intruding, taking the circle as a boundary. These are two

distinct salient aspects of the multimodal experience of besieging. On the bodily level, for

each series, only a part of the bucco-naso-pharyngeal muscular movements is solicited for the

concept-enacting, and so for the sense-making. We thus note the principle of the activation of

precise parts of the morphology by saliencing, and the inhibition of other parts. This calls to

mind the principles of inhibition / activation of neurones or muscles (« antagonist » muscles,

e.g. triceps / biceps, cannot be activated at the same time). Within the sensorimotor

continuum, submorphemes are thus considered here as « antagonists » in relation to each

other according to the discursive situation.

2.3 Enaction of the lexical meaning by saliencing: a potentially vicarious process

This theory also claims to solve the question of the possible enacting of several

submorphemes within the same word. It is then necessary to take into account the relationship

between the submorphemes themselves, which involves another phenomenon directly related

to the simplex construction of the world: vicariousness.

19 Bohas (2016) proposes a complementary submorpheme for this series: the matrix (dorsal feature) linked to the

« curvature » by virtue of the rounding of the tongue during its plating against the palate for the pronunciation of

a dorsal consonant. These are two distinct submorphemes linked to two specific aspects of the sensorimotor

experience (i.e. tightening and rounding). Thus if the two submorphological structures can cross, they do not

overlap completely. For example, the structure presented here intersects lexical items that sometimes contain no

backbone. 20 Newspaper article ; Author not specified (1995 : § 27). 21 Cabrera de Córdoba (1857 : 276-277).

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

76

According to Berthoz (2013: 30) « Usual vicariousness […] refers to the fact that the same

object, the same part of our body, the same person, can be perceived as fulfilling different

roles according to our intentions and our Umwelt. » Thus a knife can be used either to cut or

as a screwdriver, as required (see Berthoz, 2013: 14). In the same way, submorphemes

emerging from saliencing can vary according to dialogical experiences for the same given

word or morpheme. This explains many cases of homonymy or ambiguity (see Bohas-Dat,

2007, Grégoire, 2012b). This plurality of saliencings can be termed transmorphology, because

the segments transcend words and morphemes. For example, the word word can be

considered as a graphic trace resulting from a wrist twist as attested by the submorpheme wr it

contains: e.g. wr in wrought, wrath, writhe, wrist (see Bottineau, 2008, 2010), realized w-r.

This form can also be perceived as a graphic or phonic linear element because of the process

analogy it introduces with e.g. tree, direct, drive, train, timber, which causes the

submorpheme tr to be enumerated linked to the idea of « rectitude » (See Bottineau, 2012b),

realized -rd. Lastly, in the sentence Are our words worlds?, access to meaning relies on

homophony: the word segment appears as salient insofar as it is common and systemizes

words and worlds. In each case, the form has undergone perceptual reanalysis leading to

specific submorpheme saliencing.

We can illustrate the same phenomenon in greater detail in the Spanish word flamenco. First,

the meanings given by the Diccionario de la Real Academia (DRAE, s.v. flamenco):

Flamenco, ca (From the Dutch flaming, see DRAE). 1. adj. Originally from Flanders. 2. adj.

Of Flanders or related thereto. 3. adj. Pictorial style that developed in Flanders in the 15th and

17th centuries. 4. adj. Culture or popular musical event interpreted by the Andalusians. 5. adj.

Pertaining to Flemish (dialect). 6. adj. Colloq. Vain, insolent. 7. adj. Colloq. For a person:

robust and ruddy. 8. adj. P. Rico. Thin, lean. 9. m. Dutch dialect spoken in Belgium. 10. m.

Flamenco singing or dance. 11. m. Flamingo.22

According to Corominas & Pascual (sv flamenco), as this term refers to that which pertains to

Flanders (meanings 1, 2, 3, 5, 9), meanings 6 and 7 can stem from stereotypes of Flemish

people (robustness, red coloring). But the meaning designating a bird (flamingo) is more

obscure. Our hypothesis is the insertion of flamenco by analogical rehabilitation or

remotivation in the {labiodental fricative + lateral liquid} structure related to the concept of

« attenuated friction flux » (see Toussaint, 1983 : 74) : flamenco. This structure is common to

a number of Spanish lexemes not linked etymologically, such as fluir (« to flow ») ; falcón

(old, « falcon ») ; fleta (« friction ») ; falda (« skirt ») ; mofletes (« swollen cheeks ») ;

flamear (« to ripple, to undulate ») ; fletar (« to charter ») ; flatulencia (“flatulence ») ; flauta

(« flute ») ; flotar (« to float ») ; flojo (« soft, loose ») ; falena (« kind of butterfly ») ; flagelar

(« to flog ») ; inflar (« to inflate »). The use of flamenco to designate the bird could thus be

attributed to the saliencing of this submorphological characteristic (labiodental fricative +

lateral liquid), because a bird floats in the air and flaps its wings, whence an idea of

« attenuated friction ».

Another use of flamenco may come from the differentiated prominent aspect of the

sensorimotor experience: the meaning of « thin, lean » attested in Costa Rica. This could be

explained by a new saliencing, that of the submorpheme (nasal + velar), linked to the concept

of « reduction » : flamenco. This is attested in particular by the existence of menguar (« to

reduce »), ñengo (« to reduce »), gansarón (« weak and lean man ») angosto (« narrow »),

ángulo (« angle »); rincón (« inward corner ») / esquina (« outgoing corner »), or more

abstractly congoja (« anguish ») ; angustia (idem)23. At the articulatory level, the

22 Cf. Diccionario de la Real Academia Española, s.v. flamenco. Our translation. 23 See Grégoire (2012a: 169-236; 2012b) for further developments and other examples.

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

77

pronunciation of combined nasal and velar involves contact between the tongue and the soft

palate. This junction obstructs the airflow into the nasal canal at the nasopharynx level and

produces a « narrowing » by activation of the pharynx constrictor muscles.

Phenomenologically, it could therefore be a construction of the meaning « thin, meager »

from the viewpoint of « body reduction ». This may refer to the slimness of the flamingo, an

aspect of the bird different from that addressed by the submorpheme {labiodental fricative +

liquid}.

Cognitive and bio-behavioral variations can thus occur in the variation of the saliencing for

any given form. In this case, the participation of flamenco in two networks of

phenomenological experiences enables it to activate at least two distinct submorphemes, that

of {labiodental fricative + lateral liquid} and {nasal + velar}. In short, it may be through a

vicarious process that an acquired word lets us reactivate the various experiences linked to it,

and which occur at the submorphemic level. It is then morphosyntax, as an articulated action,

and the context, that make it possible to specify the salienced submorpheme downstream in

the sentence.

However, cases of « transmorphological vicariousness » raise some questions that warrant

attention. We see at least two: (i) that of the « enactive significance » of any particular

submorpheme in relation to another depending on the use, and (ii) that of the number of

saliencing processes for the same word. These are new problems to which specific parameters

will apply.

3. Emergence of complementary parameters

Because of the contingency of the lexicon based inter alia on its mutability and on the

plurality of sensorimotor experiences, not all saliencings may have the same significance, in

other words the salienced sensorimotor actions are not exploited in the same proportions in all

languages and by all speaking subjects in the same linguistic community. It is therefore

necessary to evaluate the « enactive significance » of each salience, that is, the tendency of

speaking subjects to (re)activate one aspect of the sensorimotor experience. We call this

enactive significance the saliencing coefficient. In addition, when there are several saliencing

processes for the same morpheme or word, we will also try to calculate what we term the

saliencing valence.24

3.1 The saliencing dynamic potentialities (saliencing coefficient)

We propose the following protocol to calculate the enactive “saliencing potentialities”:

1) Examine all the uses of a given word in a corpus;

2) Classify each use in the identified submorphemic structures;

3) Calculate the proportions (percentages) of each use among all the recorded uses;

4) Reduce to a scale from > 1 to 10 (coefficients).

We propose an application to the Spanish word ganga, which has several distinct uses:

Ganga (1) (by imitation of the cry of this bird, see Corominas & Pascual, s.v. ganga I). 1. f.

Grouse (bird). 2. F. Property acquired at a price much lower than what it is normally worth.

24 Our terminology draws on Tesnières (1965), who applied this notion to syntax, especially of the verb. This is

the number of actants that the verb must or can receive to provide a correct statement. In this case, it refers to the

number of submorphemes for the same word. See infra 3.2.

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

78

Ganga (2) (from French gangue, 1884. Cf. Corominas & Pascual, s.v. ganga II). 1. f. Engin.

In mining, worthless material accompanying minerals and from which these are separated.

Ganga (3) (from the English gang, see DRAE, s.v. ganga 3) 1. f. P. Rico. Street gang with a

bad reputation.25

According to Corominas and Pascual, « metaphorically, the word ganga has been applied to

unprofitable things, because the grouse is a tough bird and difficult to skin and eat, but it has

been repeatedly used ironically and came instead to designate valued things that someone

acquires inexpensively”.26 The other meanings are of different origins (French and English)

and concern different domains (geology, sociology).

First of all, for the bird, the characteristic of its cry and the aspect of experience linked to

hunting (difficulty), from which derives the idea of a « bargain », do not belong to the same

mental construction. This singularization of the aspects of experience would lead us rather to

compare this use of « good deal » to the other two entries of ganga (« worthless material »

and « band, gang »). We find the same semantic exploitations in a number of lexical items

containing the group {nasal + velar} and expressing the idea of « effort reduction » : zangón

(« lazy »); gandul (« lazy »); realengo (« lazy »); holgazán (« lazy »); galbana (« laziness ») ;

ganforro (« workshy person »); zangamanga (« cheating »); gandaya (« wandering life »);

engañar (« deceive »); pochonga (« lie »); mangar (« steal »); ganzúa (« thief »).

In its use to designate a « bird » in the strict and primitive sense, ganga seems to exploit the

characteristic of the two velars, with the repetition of the guttural feature describing the cry

(ganga), i.e. the submorpheme {duplicated velar}. This characteristic is then connected to the

concept of « guttural echo ». This is a way of naming birds that is quite common in the

Spanish-speaking world: thus carraco, a (« duck » in Costa Rica, « bird of prey » in

Colombia, « species of migrating bird » in Spain); cacatúa (« bird of prey »); concuna /

cuncuna (« dove, pigeon »); corco, corconera (« duck »); coscoroba (« small swan »); cuco /

cuclillo (« cuckoo »); cusco (« owl »); gagachín (« sort of bird »); gálgulo (« azure-winged

magpie »); guacamayo (« kind of parrot »); guacharaca (« galliform bird with a very low-

pitched cry »); guaco (« night bird » in Spain, « sort of hawk » in Costa Rica and Honduras);

guangolola (« generic name given to certain birds in Honduras »); güegüecho (« turkey,

cock »); kakapó / kakapú (« parrot »).27 The following distribution is obtained :

25 See Diccionario de la Real Academia Española, s.v ganga. Our translation. 26 Corominas & Pascual (s.v. ganga I). Our translation. 27 See Grégoire (2012a, b).

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

79

Uses of the word ganga Submorphemes

Submorphemic

realizations in

forms

Uses related to the bird and its

cry (entry 1, primitive

nomination)

Submorpheme

{reduplication of velars}

concept of « guttural echo » ganga

Uses derived from and related

to ideas of « worthlessness »

or « bargain » (Entries 1, 2

and 3)

Submorpheme

{nasal + velar}, concept of

« reduction » ganga

Table 2. Ganga use classification according to the TSS

In CORDE (Spanish diachronic corpus), 87 uses of the form ganga(s) related to the concept

of « guttural echo » were found out of 446 (in 230 documents), or a proportion of 19.50%. In

CREA (synchronic corpus), there are 2 out of 185 in 147 documents, or 1.08% of uses.28 The

other saliencing observed ({nasal + velar}) and related to the concept of « reduction »,

appears much more frequently, with 359 uses out of 446 (80.50%) in CORDE, and 183 uses

out of 185 (98.92%) in CREA. For clarity, this data is collected in the following table :

Corpus of the Real Academia

Española

Ratio

(uses due to

this

submorpheme

/ total of uses)

Saliencing

proportions

Saliencing

coefficients

(approx.)

Corpus CORDE (- 1974)

Submorpheme

{doubling of velars} 87 / 446 19.50% Coeff. 2

Submorpheme

{nasal + velar} 359 / 446 80.50% Coeff. 8

Corpus CREA (1975- )

Submorpheme

{doubling of velars} 2 / 185 1.08% Coeff. 0,1

Submorpheme

{nasal + velar} 183 / 185 98.92% Coeff. 9.9

Table 3. Comparison of the saliencing coefficients of the submorphemes {doubling of

velars} and {nasal + velar} synchronically and diachronically

28 See the Real Academia Española website www.rae.es to go to the corpus.

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

80

We see that the enactive significance of the submorpheme (nasal + velar) is much greater in

this case, irrespective of the perspective adopted, and so has more often been the subject of

enactive exploitation. The saliencing coefficient lets us evaluate the « enacting capacity » of

any particular prominent sensorimotor characteristic synchronically or diachronically, and

thus see its evolution.29 This device also lets us measure an aspect of the operation of the

lexicon that traditional lexicometry cannot access, by integrating the criteria related to the

enactive approach and applying them to the submorphemic level. If we take into account all

the theoretical implications of corporeity and enaction, it is even possible to assess, at the

scale of the lexicon, the language users’ ways of constructing the world through the

sensorimotor features most often used, and those that are correspondingly rejected.

3.2 Saliencing valence

We term saliencing valence the number of possible saliencies for a given sign,

panchronically. It reflects to an extent the use of the signifiers by speakers synchronically,

that is to say of the phenomenological perception-action elicited by the discursive

interactions. For example, the word ganga has a valence of at least 2 if we refer to the above

corpus. A more exhaustive survey of ganga uses at time t would certainly entail an adjustment

of both the coefficient and the valence. It may be that other uses are not constructed through

the two submorphemes we have approached, but by others, e.g. in wordplay, poetry or hapax

cases. Saliencing valence not only extends the results obtained by the calculation of the

coefficients, but also allows for the less “conformist” semantic uses that attest to the vitality

and evolution of the language. In such cases, homophonies and other echoes can cause the

enactment of new submorphemes (different segmentations by reanalysis).

4. Saliencing, speech and intersubjectivity

4.1 Taking temporality into consideration in the sense-making enactment

The enactive perspective also implies taking into account the temporal dimension induced by

the speech chain, which is approached by several theories, such as chronosyntax (Macchi

2005), chronosemantics (Macchi, forthcoming), chronophonetics (Macchi 2017) and

chronosignifying (Poirier, this issue and forthcoming). Here we emphasize this last approach,

which seems to us the most comprehensive, and involves actual submorphemic saliencing.

For Poirier (this issue), chronosignifying is the « progressive temporal construction of

signifiers and signifying. » It is therefore a « process of enaction, of synthesis of signifiers,

with variations in the levels of delimitation, agglutination, etc., which lead to possibly

different, varied segment semiotizations. » The author gives examples of grammaticalization

by coalescence, diachronically. For example, the medieval Spanish collocation of the forms

cual (« what / which ») and quier (« want ») emphasized the velar feature at the initial

position in each case30. After collocation in a new submorpheme corresponding to a new

aspect of the sensorimotor experience, the submorpheme (open vowel + lateral +velar)

realized [álk] or [álg], caused coalescence in cualquier (« any »). This submorpheme can be

recognized in algo (« something »), alguien (« someone ») or alguno (« some »). The

29 We emphasize that this device reflects the limits of the corpus to which it relates. For example, the CREA

corpus is relatively heterogeneous in nature, and contains many idiolectal and sociolectual variants (including

variants from Latin America), unlike CORDE, whose sources are mostly Iberian and mainly literary. 30 We find this in other correlative structures corresponding to this syntactic scheme including tal cual (« as is »),

tan como (« also... »), cuanto más ... más (« more ... more »), etc. See Fortineau-Brémond (2012).

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

81

saliencing did not then operate at the same temporal stage of semiotization but at another. The

segmentation process therefore varied from one synchrony to the next. Similarly, the word

también (« also ») and tampoco (« no longer ») are derived respectively from collocations and

coalescences of tan bien (« as well ») and tan poco (« so little »). These locutions previously

actualized the submorpheme (coronal + labial). The actualization of a new distinct salience:

{nasal + bilabial} realized [mb] or [mp], then generated the coalescence into también and

tampoco. These forms recall ambos (« the two »), empero (« but »), [sin] embargo

(« nevertheless »), empós (« after ») or compañía (« company »). Again, the segments

perceived were not the same from one stage to the next. The author also demonstrated that the

saliencing was exclusive in each case and that the two saliencings were not concurrent, but

were successive, diachronically. The loss of the correlative function caused coalescence and

then reanalysis of the signifying segment, which caused a change in saliencing and in the

corresponding diachronic network (see Poirier, forthcoming). We then observe the same

principle of exclusive submorphemic saliencing both diachronically and synchronically for

the meaning enactment. This shows that this selection can activate a part of the morphology,

but inhibit others, in the same way that perception-action at a more general level implies the

exploitation of certain external stimuli and the corresponding neglect of others.

We can go on to propose, following Launay (2003: 281-282)31, that what best reflects this

chronosignifying process by saliencing are cases of homonymy, slips, wordplay, popular

etymology, misunderstandings or poetic and paremiological utterances.

Let us take the example of slogans based on wordplay. In the following sentences (5a) to (5d),

echoes by homophony (here in italics and bold) retroactively generate the segment saliencing

of the truncated French noun déco (« decoration »):

(5a) [t0] Déco [t1] et [t2] des cadeaux [t3] [kado]

(Decoration and gifts)

(5b) [t0] Déco [t1] et [t2] des [t3] prix

(Decoration and prices)

(5c) Un [t0] Noël [t1] néo [t2] – [t3] déco [t4]

(A Christmas ‘new decoration’)

31 For Launay (2003), the principle of Saussurian relative motivation is part of a wider phenomenon of analogies

and oppositions between signifiers, what he calls semiotic connotation. This phenomenon may then be found

« in various forms (whose diversity should be analyzed), in slogans, nursery rhymes, newspaper titles,

advertisements, mistakes, and so on. In short, in all those places where the convoked semiotic connotation

suggests other words under words, other sentences under sentences, and other sounds under sounds. It could be

readily shown that this mechanism is also the basis of Saussure’s anagrams, analyzed by Starobinski (1971) ».

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

82

(5d) La [t0] déco [t1] à prix [t2] éco [t3]32

(Decoration at economy price)

In each case, a different segmentation of the déco form is performed and detected as soon as

the temporal stage of the homophonic segment is reached.33 In examples (5a), (5b) and (5c),

at t1, the déco form is pronounced, but the saliencing process is not yet defined. In t2, the

continuous or discontinuous homophonic segment appears, and in t3 the saliencing of the

corresponding segment in déco takes place. Thus since the saliencing is distinct in each case,

the delivered message is also different. Finally, independently of the playful effect caused by

the unusual employment of déco in these sentences, the values given to this substantive are

quite understandable even though they are not attested nor yet lexicographically attestable. In

example (5c), there are even two possible saliencings: néo / Noël (non-ordained submorpheme

{néo}) and Noël néo-déco (submorpheme {eo}) We are close to both Saussure’s anagrams

(Starobinski 1971) and the principle of analogical remotivation by collocation according to

Bottineau.

A misunderstanding in the TSS results, for ambiguous sentences, from the discrepancies

between speaker and hearer (collective perception « pact » not observed). Bottineau

(forthcoming 1) analyzes the theoretical foundations with application to the French noun café

(both « coffee » and « café ») as follows:

The interpretation of the word café is determined both by the situation and by the

string of analogical sentences to which is attached the particular sentence in which

it appears. The meaning of the utterance lies in the way its formulation advances

the pragmatic situation in the course of collaborative management – the preparation

of breakfast or the planning of the reopening of the premises. In other cases, the

interpretation of the word café is determined by the feedback effects induced by the

predicate: le café est servi [“coffee is served”] (drink), le café est fermé [“the pub is

closed”] (premises), coffee is down ["le café est en baisse”] (raw material price).

Thus what the misunderstanding reveals is that any morphosemantic adventing is at the same

time correlation and contrast, and both dialogical (due to experiences related to the uses of

the recorded word) and dialogal (between interlocutors).34 We offer as an example the

Spanish word cuca, integrating the theory of submorphemic saliencing and chronosignifying

data in synchrony. The word cuca can designate, according to the context, a « cockroach » or

the « female of the cuckoo »:

(6) - ¡Mira esa cuca! (submorpheme {duplication of velars} for the speaker: cuca is

understood to mean « female of the cuckoo »)

- ¿Una cuca? (The context is not sufficient for the saliencing specification, so the hearer is

waiting for the necessary saliencing at this stage, and is not sure whether what is for him the

« prototypical » saliencing is the speaker’s.)

- Sí, te estoy hablando del ave [the ambiguity is lifted: submorpheme {duplication of velar},

t1], no de la cucaracha [graphic submorpheme saliencing {cc}, t2, cuca is understood in the

32 (5a): La Foir'Fouille Advertising catalog, September 2013; (5b): La Foir'Fouille Advertising catalog,

November 2013; (5c): La Foir'Fouille Advertising catalog, December 2013; (5d): Carrefour Advertising catalog,

September 2013. Our italics. For other examples of this type, see Grégoire (2013). 33 This is based on the same activation mechanisms as for Saussure’s anagrams, for example. See Starobinski

(1971) on the « significant echoes », re-examined in the TSS framework by Grégoire (2010, 2012a). 34 For the distinction between the two notions of dialogal and dialogic, see Bres (2005).

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

83

sense of « cockroach » and acknowledging the ambiguity, i.e. the multiple saliencing valence

of cuca].35

(- Look at that cuckoo!

- A cuckoo?

- Yes, I'm talking about the bird, not the cockroach.)

These cases let us evaluate the ability of the word to function as a « dialogic reactivator »

depending on the subjects, because the two interlocutors did not enlist the same experience

during the time of the ambiguity. The dialogal and situational contexts were also not

sufficiently discriminating, which generated misunderstanding.

4.2 The intersubjective construction of a saliencing

Examination of these particular utterances demonstrates in particular that the perception and

understanding of saliencing presupposes the simultaneous identification of several elements:

- The characteristic used and salienced recognized intersubjectively by the dialogal

arrangement and the contextual discrimination.

- The sensorimotor profile of the submorpheme exploited by saliencing. In this case, the

submorphemes {c-c} and {velar duplication} are related to distinct salient aspects of the

sensorimotor experience, and involve respectively « tightening » and « guttural echo »

concepts. We note that this is not systematic, and that in some cases studied here, the

sensorimotor profile is not always engaged in the meaning-enacting process.

- The enaction and correlation mechanisms (themselves acquired dynamically) by procedural

analogy with the others involved in forming the linguistic system. In this case, the means by

which cuca is connected to cucaracha (« cockroach ») in Spanish or déco to décoration in

French is truncation.

- The saliencing enactive significance (saliencing coefficient), that is to say the link with the

dialogical experience maintained by the subject himself. Coefficients are seen in contrast to

other uses. Thus cases of confrontation with a new meaning or a new form imply a dialogical

(re) analysis that is potentially based on a new saliencing, and thus on the redeployment of the

coefficients acquired as and when interactive situations arise. For example, in sentences (5a)

to (5d), the sets of echoes have caused decoupled submorphemes to be enumerated with very

low coefficients (<1).

- The saliencing valence. The valence is transmitted at the same time as the acquired word

and attests its dialogical heterogeneity. This is a (re) dialogical analysis, which makes it

possible to discriminate the two saliencings in the case of multiple valence. For example, the

substantive déco has a valence of at least 4, although the uses are very specific. Also, in the

learning phase, the expression of a new relation to the object, space or environment (new

aspect of the experience) allows the hearer to increase the valence known to him.

35 Oral sentence heard in Murcia (Spain) in 2015. NB: The proposed translation cannot render the ambiguity

because of the irreducibility of the languages to each other.

Signifiances (Signifying), 1(3), 67-88.

84

5. Conclusions. Perspectives and problems in the theory of submorphemic

saliencing

By proposing perception-action of linguistic sensorimotor actions by saliencing, TSS may

offer some insights into how body functioning (muscle saliences: activations of certain

muscles and antagonist inhibitions), including that of the brain (neuronal activations /

inhibitions) and language (formal and conceptual submorphemic saliencing vs. inhibitions of

other parts of the vocal and graphomotor sensorimotor continuum) are linked. Thus the

selection of any particular muscular movement may correspond to the construction of a

specific instructional effect linked to experience. For example, the attenuated friction

generated by the {labiodental fricative + liquid} group enables it to express the idea of

« attenuated friction » and be enacted in speech with the use of the substantive flamenco

owing to a correspondence with experience related to the bird’s flight. It is not therefore the

object itself but rather the relation to the object that is made salient for and through the lexical

meaning enactment. Moreover, because of its « dialogical heterogeneity », the word is no

longer presented as a « behavior reference »; it is the submorpheme, considered by Bottineau

as a « phenomenological mediator » that seems to us most often able to directly summon

sensorimotor experiences, as the cases studied here demonstrate.

The method presented also leads us to break with the binary dimension of the phoneme, and

to resume a bodily analysis of the submorphological elements in the framework of a given

social and cultural environment. This frees us from a mimological conception of articulation.

A more « anatomical » approach would perhaps detect new articulatory micromovements.

This singularization of sensorimotor actions at a very early stage could then make it possible

to appraise the saliencing possibilities for meaning enactment according to the dialogical and

contextual situation.

The problem is that there is as yet (to our knowledge) no fully embodied, phoniatric, enactive

phonology that could explore all the spatiotemporal ordered articulatory coordination of a

given language. For the time being therefore, the analysis of the functioning of the

submorphological system remains limited. This question arises not only for the TSS, but

equally for any enactive theory applying to the language and more precisely to the lexicon,

insofar as the imprecision caused by the binary distribution of the phonemes prevents us from

exploring all the implications of articulatory (micro-)corporeality. However, this should not

impede the analysis of the lexicon, but rather offer an opportunity to modify how we rethink

the mechanisms of phonation (singularization and spatio-temporal hierarchization of muscular

movements, consideration of all articulatory characteristics, even non-oppositives, taking into

account direction of air flow, long-term modeling of the bucconasopharyngeal muscles,

synchronization with other parts of the body, etc.) and their implications for signifying and

languaging. The ultimate conclusion may be that everything in language is a process.

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